Process for magnetically attaching wall paper



Feb. 15, 1966 H. E. KORITZ 3,235,427

PROCESS FOR MAGNETICALLY ATTACHING WALL PAPER Filed 001;. 27. 1961 INVENTOR HA ROLD E. KOR/TZ A TORNEY.

3,235,427 PROCESS? FQR MAGNETICALLY ATTACHKNG WALL lAPElR Harold 1E. Koritz, Boston, Mass, assignor, by mesne assignments, of one-half to Harold 1E. Koritz, Boston, Mass, and one-half to Alfred E. Sliflra, Randolph, Mass.

Filed Oct. 27, 1961, Ser. No. 148,061 2 Claims. (Cl. 156-711) This invention relates to decorative or covering sheet products which can be permanently applied to a fixed surface by magnetic means. In particular it refers to a permanently magnetized wall paper which can easily and readily be placed in position on a wall with a minimum of wall surface preparation.

The decoration of wall surfaces generally falls into two categories. One of these is the use of paint. Where a wall surface such as plaster is fresh and new it may be readily painted to give a smooth decorative surface. However, if the plastic is old or cracked or if a plain color surface is undesirable, it is then preferred to use wall paper which both provides a pre-selected ornamental surface and also gives a smoother appearance, particularly Where rough or old plastic surfaces are concerned.

The hanging of Wall paper, however, often involves problems that are not easily overcome. Where there is old paper on the Wall it is often necessary to remove the old paper by an arduous and costly process in order to have a surface which can readily hold or accept the new wall paper. More important, the art of hanging wall paper involves the use of an adhesive so that a high degree of skill is required to achieve a good finished result. If the person hanging the paper misjudges either the adhesive amount required or the exact position or exact length of paper to be cut, once he applies it to the wall, the mistake cannot be corrected.

One object of this invention is to provide a wall paper which can easily and readily be used by an unskilled person to achieve a satisfactory result.

A further object of this invention is to provide such a wall paper which will be permanently fixed if desired but can, nevertheless, be easily and completely removed without damage to either the Wall or wall paper.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a wall paper which does not require any adhesive.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide such a wall paper which can be used on old paper or poor plaster walls with only a minimum of wall surface treatment.

The invention comprises broadly providing a wall paper having a back portion containing dispersed, permanently magnetized ferroinagentic particles wherein a substantial component of the magnetic field lines produced by the poles of the particles enter and leave the back surface of the paper in a perpendicular direction, and applying such paper to a wall which has been treated with ferromagnetic magnetically soft material. In its preferred form the permanently magnetic dispersed particles in the wall paper are magnetized so as to produce alternating rows of north and south poles on the back surface only of the wall paper.

The magnetized wall paper may be prepared by coating the back surface of a roll of wall paper with ferromagnetic, magnetically hard particles made of material having a high coercive force dispersed in a suitably adherent coating material which after drying and/or coating presents a flexible, dry and nontacky surface. The coated paper is then exposed to a saturation magnetic field, as explained below, to provide a coating having particles which are magnetized so as to produce alternating nited States Patent @filice 3,235,427 Patented Feb. 15, 1966 rows of north and south poles on the coated surface only.

The magnetized wall paper may also be prepared by treatment prior to or during the normal manufacture of the wall paper itself. Thus the paper web to be used in making the wall paper can be impregnated with a suitable fluid material containing a dispersion of ferromagnetic, magnetically hard particles made of a material having a high coercive force, which fluid material would dry or cure to a flexible solid adhered to the web. This paper, after manufacturing is otherwise completed, can be exposed on one surface to a saturation magnetic field to provide particles which are so magnetized as to produce alternating rows of north and south poles on the exposed surface only.

In another variation of this invention, the magnetizable particle-impregnated wall paper described in the preceding paragraph can be of the nature of an interliner. The particles are magnetized so as to produce areas of alternating rows of north and south poles on both surfaces, but no such area on one surface is directly behind such an area on the other surface. When this variation of the invention is used, the interliner is applied to the Wall containing a coating of ferromagnetic magnetically soft material. The normal wall paper is treated on its back surface with a coating of ferromagnetic, magnetically soft material and then applied to the interliner.

It is a significant feature of our discovery that if penmanently magnetized powder is applied to the wall paper, without subsequent exposure to a magnetic field, the resultant product has insufficient magnetic strength to be usable as magnetic wall paper. However, if the permaently magnetizable powder is first applied to the wall paper and then exposed to a saturated magnetic field, the result is eminently satisfactory for permanently positioning the wall paper on a suitably prepared Wall.

The permanently magnetizable materials for use in this invention should preferably have a high coercive force, a high residual induction, a substantially straight line major hysteresis loop, and be as light and thin as possible. The materials which appear to have this combination of preferred properties include ceramic magnetic materials or magnetic oxides as, for example, the product formed by heating together of barium carbonate and ferric oxide, which is given an appropriate atomic formula of Trade names for this type of ceramic permanently magnetizable material includes Ferrimag (Crucible Steel Company of America), lndox, Cromag, Magnadure, Ferroxdure and Ceramagnet. Another material which has the desired combination of properties is the intermetallic compound of manganese and bismuth known as Bismanol. In any case the powdered permanently magnetizable material is generally ground to a small mesh, e.g., to 150, and then dispersed in a fluid coating or impregnating material which can be converted by curing and/or drying to a flexible material which is preferably dry, non-tacky and adherent.

As one example of this invention 60.9 grams of Ferrimag I (which is isotropic, has a residual fiux density of 2100 gauss, a coercive force of 1650 oersteds and a density of 0.170 lb. per cubic inch) was mixed with 35.9 cc. of Isoc'hemsil Rub 1160 and 0.82 cc. of catalyst 1160. This mixture has a pot life of 10 to 12 minutes and was coated on a sheet of wall paper having an area of 3.48 square centimeters and a thickness of 0.024 centimeter. The resultant coating had a thickness of .049 centimeter which represented a density of 0.0612 gram of Ferrimng I per square centimeter of surface.

In a similar fashion, wall paper was coated to a thickness of coating of 0.002 centimeters. Both of these samples were successfully utilized as explained below.

The samples in this condition were not magnetized. In order to achieve useful permanent magnetization it is necessary that a suitable magnetic field be applied. I have found that a suitable magnet is one wherein there are alternating bands or strips of north and south poles. A useful Width both of the pole bands and the non-polar strips in between is approximately of the order of magnitude of of an inch. A general procedure is to pass the strip of paper with its magnetizable surface in contact with the strips of north and south poles of such a suitable designed magnet.

A suitable magnet is schematically illustrated in the figure and comprises a strip of copper conductor 11 covered with insulation 12 and bent in an accordion fashion so as to provide alternating parallel bands A, B, C, D, E and F, each band having an opposite direction of current from its adjacent neighbor. The accordion portion of the copper strip is embedded in a block 13 of ferromagnetic magnetically soft material as, for example, soft magnetic steel, so that the top and bottom of the bends, as well as the front edges of the bends are flush with the surface of the steel block, the rear edges being embedded in the steel. The wall paper 14 is passed along the magnet so that its back surface 15 which contains the dispersion of the penmanently magnetizable powder is in contact with the edges a, b, c, d, e and f of the conductor whereby alternating bands of north and south poles are produced on its back surface. Electron flow is from DC. current source 16 through Wire 17 and back through wire 18. It is advisable to use sufficient current to achieve a saturation magnetic field for maximum pole strength, hence maximum holding force.

After this wall paper has been so prepared and magnetized the wall surface is prepared by coating with a dispersion of magnetically soft iron filings, as, for example, EP-1024, in an ordinary protective coating or protective coating vehicle, e.g. ordinary paint. Thus, for example, 100 grams of iron filings were dispersed in 50 cc. of paint and then applied to walls in a range of thicknesses of from .033 to .072 centimeters to give excellent holding with the permanently magnetized wall paper.

In the case of an interliner, the procedure for preparation is the same except that instead of contacting one entire surface to the magnet, the contacting is done to selected areas of both surfaces in such a manner that an exposed area on one surface is backed by an unexposed area on the other surface.

It is also possible, though not as desirable, to prepare the wall itself as a permanently magnetic surface, be-

cause of the obvious inconvenience of applying a powerful magnet to the wall.

The term Wall paper as used in this invention includes any of the conventional wall decorating flexible sheet materials such as those based on paper, textiles, plastic or combinations thereof. The term wall as used herein is used in its general conventional sense to indicate any wall of a building whether of plaster, plaster board, wood or masonry, or whether previously covered or not covered with other wall decorating materials as, for example, conventional wall paper.

I claim:

1. A process for installing wall paper on a Wall comprising providing wall paper having a back portion containing dispersed permanently magnetized particles 'wherein a substantial component of the magnetic field lines produced by the poles of the particles enter and leave the back surface of the wall paper in a perpendicular direction, providing the wall surface with a coating of ferromagnetic, magnetically soft material, and then placing the Wall paper on the wall.

2. A process for installing wall paper on a Wall with an interliner, comprising providing the wall surface with a coating of ferromagnetic, magnetically soft material, placing a permanently magnetic interliner on the wall, and placing on top of the interliner a wall paper having a back portion containing ferromagnetic, magnetically soft material; both surfaces of said interliner being magnetic; the magnetic forces of said surfaces being derived from permanently magnetized ferromagnetic particles dispersed in said interliner; a substantial component of the magnetic field lines produced by the poles of the particles entering and leaving each surface of the interliner in a perpendicular direction.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,147,817 2/1939 Johnson 15671 2,291,800 8/1942 Drake 15671 2,418,479 4/1947 Pratt et al. 2,692,843 10/ 1954 Winther. 2,712,191 7/1955 Hillenbrand 4134 2,864,275 12/1958 Fraleigh. 2,895,851 7/1959 Johnson 11793.2 3,023,123 2/1962 Colwill et al. 3,093,919 6/1963 Holtz. 3,095,319 6/1963 Williams. 3,124,725 3/1964 Leguillon.

ALEXANDER WYMAN, Primary Examiner.

HAROLD ANSHER, EARL M. BERGERT, Examiners. 

1. A PROCESS FOR INSTALLING WALL PAPER ON A WALL COMPRISING PROVIDING WALL PAPER HAVING A BACK PORTION CONTAINING DISPERSED PERMANENTLY MAGNETIZED PARTICLES WHEREIN A SUBSTANTIAL COMPONENT OF THEMAGNETIC FIELD LINES PRODUCED BY THE POLES OF THE PARTICLES ENTER AND LEAVE THE BACK SURFACE OF THE WALL PAPER IN A PERPENDICULAR DIRECTION, PROVIDING THE WALL SURFACE WITH A COATING OF FERROMAGNETIC, MAGNETICALLY SOFT MATERIAL, AND THEN PLACING THE WALL PAPER ON THE WALL. 